The Psychological Assessment of Political Leadersindeed in examining the situation get the facts, but in getting the
facts will not get the picture. As noted earlier, the individual "loses
the forest for the trees."
The preoccupation with productivity and concentration imparts a
special cast to the cognitive style and life-style of these individuals.
They are immensely productive and show impressive abilities to con-
centrate on their work, often cranking out huge volumes of work,
especially in technical areas. But everything seems laborious, deter-
mined, tense, and deliberate; there is a quality of effortfulness, lead-
ing to the frequent characterization of the O-C as "driven." Yet, as
Shapiro notes, if the individual is driven, then he or she is the driver,
for the O-C very much marches to his or her own drummer, is his or
her own harsh taskmaster. The O-C is dominated by shoulds and
oughts. These individuals regularly tell themselves (and others) what
they should do; the language of "wants" is alien. There is a necessity
to maintain a rigid and continuous state of purposeful activity.
The O-Cs then are not free men. While these directives, to which
the O-C is subjected, are on the one hand burdensome, they also pro-
vide clear guidelines for behavior. These individuals do not feel com-
fortable with any nonpurposive activity. To relax for the sake of
relaxation is unthinkable, indeed anxiety producing—thus the grav-
ity with which leisure time activity is planned. The guarded state of
attention, the inability to relax, the preoccupation with "should" are
all in the service of avoiding the loss of control. There is a tight lid
on feelings, an avoidance of impulse or whim.
The O-C personality has major consequences for decision making.
The preoccupation with doing what is "right" places a premium on
avoiding mistakes. O-Cs accordingly often have difficulty coming to
decisional closure, searching for additional evidence to ensure they
are not making a mistake. But they live in a world of ambivalence
and mixed feelings, and their decision making is like that of the
"fiddler on the roof"- -"on the one hand, on the other hand." To
travel through a decision-making process with a thoroughgoing
O-C is an exhausting journey. And just as they apparently are com-
ing to a decision, all of the doubts rush up to question, and often
undo, the conclusion.
This decisional agony can be forestalled if there is a rule that can
be applied. Thus if the elements of a situation fit a psychological